Another reason for RCSD to reassess

Charter school welcome but raises concerns

Rochester School district Superintendent Bolgen Vargas.

Plans by the Rochester Institute of Technology to partner with one of the city's leading charter schools to open a new high school are stirring both excitement and nervousness. Good.

The excitement is mainly among city parents and students, who will have another option for quality, public education. The charter school movement, after all, was supposed to force conventional public schools to become more competitive.

The new high school offers great promise based on the overall performance of True North Rochester Prep Charter School, which has distinguished itself as one of New York's top performing charter schools. Until tougher standardized tests were implemented this year, Rochester Prep consistently posted higher scores on state tests.

As for the nervousness, at least one school board member, Van White, thinks the unprecedented collaboration represents more "brain drain" of the school district's more academically focused students. It's a reasonable concern that fellow board members should share at a time when charter school student enrollment in the city continues to swell and is expected to increase to 18 percent by 2018.

Though Superintendent Bolgen Vargas insists the district is working with "relentless focus and a sense of urgency to create high quality neighborhood schools and high schools," White believes the bar remains too low. He contends working to become "better" isn't enough.